Tag: voice surgery

In these 3 videos, Dr. Martin Birchall of the UK talks about technological advances in treatments for vocal cord nodules, laryngeal cancer, and the like, predicting that we may see a “whole new world” of voice treatments ten years down the line. Amen. It is great to see doctors focusing on quality of life, as well as [...]

Wow. UK announces funding for first clinical trial for stem cell-based voice box transplant. Patients who lose their voice box, or larynx, lose their ability to speak, and often have great difficulty breathing and swallowing. The potential breakthrough, dubbed RegenVox, is being led by Dr. Martin Burchall, of University College London Hospitals. In the procedure, [...]

Great summary of thyroid surgery risks and complications, from Dr. Chris Chang’s blog. During my surgery for papillary thyroid cancer, my right recurrent laryngeal nerve was severed (a thyroplasty surgery restored my voice), and I lost at least 2 of my parathyroid glands. I’m now on max doses of calcuim and Vitamin D for the [...]

Dr. Anderson told me back in 2005 that one of her goals was to make sure that I didn’t think about my voice every day. But I do think about it every day, because I am grateful for it. In a week, I return to Harvard for the “50th anniversary of women at Harvard Business [...]

There’s about a 1 percent change of having your recurrent laryngeal nerve seriously roughed up during a modified radical right neck dissection (a procedure as gruesome as it sounds – they cut your neck half off, and I have the big 24 inch fishhook scar to prove it). There’s about a zero percent chance of [...]

June 14 2004, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Diaz did the surgery, using a laser to cut me open from just below the right ear, looping down above my collarbone and finishing on the left side of my neck. All in all about 24 inches of scar, although it doesn’t look too bad [...]

A small team of 8-10 volunteers has raised over $1.65 million towards a Chair in Voice Care and Research at St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH) in Toronto. A fully funded endowed “chair”, which is simply a permanently reserved bucket of money that kicks off interest every year, is $3 million. We’re more than halfway there! This [...]